Inspiration can often be found close to home, and that’s certainly the case for the latest must-try beauty brands that are honouring sacred cultural traditions and rituals from around the world. With familial ties to India, West Africa, Korea and the Middle East, a growing group of founders are leaning into their heritage to deliver effective or covetable formulas while diversifying the beauty space, which has long been dominated by Western or European companies. 

From tending to skin and hair with a star ingredient to adorning the body with luxurious scents, we’ve rounded up the brands that will enrich your everyday routine today through a touch of the past.

Tata Harper

Before she founded her eponymous beauty brand based in Vermont, Harper grew up making concoctions for at-home spa parties with her grandmother in Barranquilla, Colombia. A trailblazer in luxury all-natural beauty, she’s poured that ethos into her line that is known for blends of high-performance botanical ingredients, some of which are grown and harvested on-site from her 1,200-acre organic farm. The Resurfacing Mask, a pomegranate enzyme-rich brightening treatment, has remained a fan favourite since it launched. Now available around the world in high-end retailers and five-star hotel spas, the collection has blossomed from face care to include body care and colour cosmetics. 

Sahajan

Founded in 2015 by Lisa Mattam, Sahajan offers skin and hair care rooted in Ayurveda, a holistic system of Indian medicine that’s been practiced for thousands of years. The Toronto and New York-based line maintains a focus on clinically proven formulas that use fundamental Ayurvedic ingredients, such as turmeric and triphala. 

Best-sellers include the Brightening Mask, the Nourish Crème Riche and the award-winning Ritual Body Oil, which softens skin with a mix of coconut, sesame seed and almond oils while boasting a comforting, naturally derived warm scent. An ultra-silky eye treatment that launched this summer, the Golden Glow Eye Balm is made with ghee, gotu kola (an antioxidant-rich Indian botanical) and rose oil, creating a trifecta that helps to reduce the look of dark circles and firm skin around the eyes while improving redness caused by dryness.

Ghlee

The brainchild of brother-sister duo Varun and Arati Sharma, Ghlee taps into the healing powers of ghee, the clarified butter that’s a staple in South Asian homes. Inspired by Varun’s experience with the soothing substance after his mother suggested he use it to treat a case of severely chapped lips, the brand began with a collection of lip products, including five lip balms, a scrub and a mask.

Every formula highlights the nourishing properties of ghee, which is loaded with vitamins and rich in fatty acids, and is boosted with potent hydrators such as olive squalane, kahai and camellia oils. Scents linked to South Asia play a starring role, too. A delightfully juicy Mango-Papaya and a divine Chai are standouts in the line-up. Designed to instantly melt aches and tension, a newly launched Muscle Recovery Balm with arnica is infused with clove bud and black pepper oils.

Latane

Content creator Josiane Konaté launched Latane in 2022, nearly two decades after immigrating to Québec from her homeland of Burkina Faso. A longtime skincare lover, it was a chance run-in with a Black female cosmetic chemist that propelled Konaté to bring her vision of an inclusive, luxe skincare line focused on African ingredients to life. 

Made to replenish the skin barrier and bring out a healthy glow in all skin types and tones, the Daoulé Oil-Infused Serum contains marula oil, a protectant that provides long-lasting hydration, while the Mimado Balm Cleanser is blended with shea butter that helps to gently dissolve makeup and impurities. 

Karité 

Raw, unrefined shea butter that’s sustainably sourced from women-run farming co-ops in Ghana is the hero ingredient in this brand by U.S.-based sisters Dr. Naana Boakye (a dermatologist), Abena Slowe and Akua Okunseinde, who grew up using it as a go-to for treating dry, flaky skin. After all, shea butter is packed with essential fatty acids, plus vitamins A and E, creating a powerful, anti-inflammatory emollient that helps to keep water from evaporating from the skin’s surface. 

The range, which includes a body cream, lip balm and—our recommendation—hand cream, uses high concentrations of the ingredient, which softens and smooths the most parched skin. The benefits are long-lasting as well, with a clinically proven hydration uptick sustained after 24 hours. The beautiful packaging also deserves a special mention: each jar or tube is capped off with a refined wooden lid. 

Gisou 

An award-winning honey-infused hair oil leads the pack in this Netherland-based hair and skin care brand founded by Negin Miraslehi. Carrying on the legacy of her Iranian family as a sixth-generation beekeeper, and equally inspired by her hairdresser mother, the line utilizes key ingredients sustainably harvested from the Mirsalehi Bee Garden. 

Thanks to the key ingredient of Mirsalehi Honey, the multipurpose hair oil—which is suitable for all hair types—is rich in vitamins, minerals, amino acids and antioxidants. Whether used in pre-styling, post-styling, as a hydration booster or overnight treatment, it offers instant shine, long-lasting hydration, frizz control, plus heat protection up to 450^oF.

Glow Recipe 

By whipping together ingredient innovation and a focus on healthy radiant skin, co-founders Sarah Lee and Christine Chang have been wildly successful at bringing K-beauty principles to the North American market since 2017. Both grew up with grandmothers who would use watermelon rinds to treat heat rashes, a joint memory that led to the soothing and hydrating fruit extract becoming prominent for the brand. 

The award-winning Watermelon Glow PHA+BHA Pore-Tight Toner is among their long-running best-sellers. Always formulating with blends of botanicals and high-performance actives, the most recent debut is a Blackberry Retinol Blemish Serum, which balances a trio of retinoids to help with resurfacing skin’s texture, with hydrating blackberry and calming glycerin.

Kayali 

Kayali, a name which means “my imagination” in Arabic, was founded in 2018 by Mona Kattan, sister to fellow beauty mogul Huda. Born in the U.S. to Iraqi immigrant parents, the long-time scent enthusiast (who boasts a personal collection of thousands of bottles) has resided in UAE since the early ‘00s. She credits her time in Dubai, where fragrances like Oud are intrinsic to cultural practices, as foundational to her appreciation and understanding of the power and possibility of perfume. 

Vanilla | 28 Eau de Parfum, which was part of the line’s original launch, remains one of if not the top bestseller within the range today. The rich gourmand juice contains notes of three different types of vanilla, along with creamy jasmine, rich amber and sweet brown sugar. As with all Kayali products, it’s genderless and designed to be worn alone or layered, with Kattan calling it a scent you can put on top of everything to make yourself smell delicious, like “the extra topping on an irresistible desert.”

Fenty Hair

She started with makeup, moved onto skin care, and now Rihanna’s latest beauty offering aims to give all hair types and textures a healthy boost. Clinically tested to repair, strengthen and hydrate, at the heart of every formula is a blend of five potent ingredients, which the brand calls “Replenicore-5.” Starting with a nod to the star’s birthplace, it contains Barbados Gooseberry for hydration, vitamin-rich upcycled jackfruit, strengthening amino acids, green tea extract for antioxidant protection and hydrolyzed vegetable protein. The inaugural collection, which spans in-shower products and stylers, has earned buzz quickly. For bond repair that offers immediate results, The Comeback Kid Instant Damage Repair Hair Treatment is a must-try.